ohmidog!

The breed of dog you own speaks volumes about what kind of human you are, according to Forbes magazine, which in its November issue says people tend to choose a breed whose personalities most resemble their own.

Some examples:

If you’ve got a beagle, you are highly inquisitive and fiercely loyal to friends. On the downside, you’re stubborn.

Cocker spaniel owners are nurturing souls, gentle, affectionate, sweet and playful.

Got a golden retriever? You’re a social butterfly who likes to be in group settings.

Chihuahua owner? You’ve got high energy, and often devote it to mischief-making.

And you’re a detail person — one who enjoys the finer things in life – if you’ve got a poodle.

People who read Forbes Magazine, meanwhile, are all about the buck, overly into appearances, and too self-involved to even notice their poodle has a personality. OK, I’m kidding on that last one, but you get my point, maybe.

I have trouble with breed generalizations. For one things, us mutt owners can’t play. For another, they are kind of like astrology — some people, seeing a little bit of truth in it, go on to accept it wholesale. Scarier yet is when politicians pick up on them and write laws. But most bothersome of all is they tend to negate the dog as an individual.

I’d argue that, though some breeds are prone to certain behaviors, every dog has its own personality. While humans may tend to pick a dog whose personality is a reflection of their own, I also think that — sharing a life — both dog and owner tend to take on a bit of each others aura.

Which may explain why I’ve started shedding.

An American Kennel Club survey has found that Americans are willing to sacrifice their own needs to better care for their dogs.

For those of us who have been doing that for years now, that’s not exactly big news. But perhaps — given the state of the economy — it bears repeating.

Here are some of the highlights:

– 96 percent of respondents would forego their daily latte to save money for their dog’s expenses.

– 97 percent said they would forego massages or spa treatments in order to afford a vet bill.

– 79 percent would cancel a teeth whitening appointment so their dog could have an annual teeth cleaning.

– 65 percent would regularly eat Ramen noodles before they would skimp on their dog’s high quality food.

– 59 percent would perm or color their own hair in the kitchen sink in order to keep Fido’s appointments at the groomers.

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Many a dog owner has wondered what’s going on in their pooch’s head — but even more fascinating may be what’s going on in his nose.

A team of Pennsylvania State University researchers, led by Brent Craven, say that the layer of mucus in a dog’s nose helps it pick up and sort scents as they travel to receptors.

Or, as New Scientist magazine put it, “Dogs extraordinary ability to sniff out anything from cocaine to cancer turns out to owe much to the gunk inside their nose.”

Dogs have many more nerve cells in their nasal cavities — and a complex network of snot-coated tubes that also “pre-sorts” smells, which may make it easier for the brain to identify them.

Craven and his colleagues used MRI images of a dog’s nasal airways to develop computer models of how air travels thorugh them. The researchers observed that different molecules were picked up by nerve cells at different points along the nasal passages.